


All is Not Bliss

by Actual_Revna



Category: The Great (TV 2020)
Genre: F/M, introspect
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:27:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26802163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Actual_Revna/pseuds/Actual_Revna
Summary: Grigor Dymove on his love for his wife and his Emperor.Leo Voronsky on his love for life and Catherine.-Introspect.Spoilers for the whole season and the end.
Relationships: Catherine/Leo Voronsky, Georgina Dymov/Grigor Dymov
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	All is Not Bliss

One would think Emperor Peter III’s Palace was a lively place. The Court full of support and adoration. And one would not be lying. For how could you lie when you describe what you see exactly the way you see it?

Every forced smile, every broken huzzah, every prompted cheer. Everytime your emperor requests your wife. Everytime you’re forced to endure it.

Grigor felt ridiculous. He had felt like that for a long while, his life a mockery of what he had imagined. Like looking through a broken mirror. “Being the emperor's best friends had its perks.” Voronsky noted, when he simply said that he forgot to shave.

But even that was not in his control. He wanted to make his displeasure known, but he did not dare make his displeasure known. See his dilemma? He remembered vaguely killing the yellow bird Peter had noticed earlier. He presented the dead thing to him, and he knew the atmosphere shifted in the room, but he did not care. They all cheered as prompted and he wanted to scream. Even Arkady cheered! What was wrong with all of them! There was no bliss in the court of Peter!

His own wife noticed his descent into madness and despair as well. “Life has dealt you a complicated woman.” He couldn’t disagree more. Life has dealt him a complicated everything. His love for his wife was the only simple thing in his life. The only thing he trusted to be true in the big charade they were leading. All is bliss in the court of Peter.

The truth is, he could not bring himself to shave. Could not bring himself to grasp the blade in his hands. For if it was sharp enough for the ordered close shave Peter required, then it was sharp enough to cut open his own skin. Sharp enough to spill all the blood his body held. Sharp enough to do the job before Chekov knew what was happening. He knew it was getting too far. Knew it when he spoke of all the blessings he had to the Empress’ lover, with tears flowing freely from his eyes. “And I love him.” he said with conviction. Or pretended enough. Was he trying to convince himself, or the dumbfounded man who suddenly found himself in the company of an unhinged man? “That’s the most important part. My love for him. And her.” and he couldn't bring himself to continue. Thankfully, the bird was there to distract him when Voronsky asked if he was alright. He gave a stupid explanation and killed the stupid thing.

And he had to kill it. Why should Peter have the thing he loved safe and free, when Grigor saw his dear George everyday, but could never bring himself to feel what he wanted to feel freely. He knew she suffered, but she was stronger than him. And now, the influence they gained was slipping, along with his sanity. The Empress was taking control. Grigor could only think about what that meant for his wife and his relationship with her. But she had the bigger picture. She was worried about the influence they had.

  
  


Thankfully, they were reassured. But not in a way they saw coming. There had been an attempt at the emperor’s life. This time, not by Grigor’s hand. There was an unknown accomplice. Grigor was too lost to notice that he and his wife were the only ones not tortured in the whole court, other than the emperor’s aunt and wife. Even the Patriarch was tortured.

  
  


After it was all over, and every member of the court sat in the hall, broken and bloody and silent, Grigor wanted to scream. He and his wife sat close to the table’s head. Prim and proper and clean shaven and beautiful and all pristine. All was bliss in the court of Peter.

Grigor noted that Arkady was not gifted the same reprieve he was. He sat next to his wife, both as bloody and lost as the rest of them.

Peter tried to offer a feeble toast that no one bothered to listen to, and for the first time, there was no cheer or huzzah or even a single acknowledgment. The air was filled with an indignant “how dare you” that nobody bothered to utter, but everybody heard.

And then she stood. Empress Cathrine. She gave a sad speech. He could see her finger wrapped in a bloody cloth, and he knew that it was not ordered. She did this. He admired her as much as he hated her.

Her speech moved them. Everyone. He doubted Peter understood a word she said, but the undertone was obvious to all those present. To all those marred by the torture. To all those who knew that it was not all bliss in the court of Peter.

He later sat with her. And her words were biting. She was vicious. Peter and Georgina were playing around and they were all confined into the room together. Peter wanted them for comfort. And she threw daggers at him as eloquently as ever. “I can see why you would want to kill Peter. It makes sense he didn’t torture you. He doesn’t need to. He tortures you every day.” she said matter-of-factly with a pointed look toward her husband and his wife. And he felt angry. Because he did want to kill Peter. Had tried and failed, in fact, but she did not know that. And it was his own wife who stopped him when he almost succeeded. “No. No. No. No. I love him.” he said in a futile attempt. But just as soon, he found himself confessing his hate bitterly. And then laughing maniacally when she asks him outright if he wanted to kill him. All was not bliss in the court of Peter!

His wife intervened again, and he was so tired of it all. He left them, claiming he was hungry, but he knew that he would not be able to stomach anything more than the apple he was cutting earlier, if only to have something to do while he watched the display of his wife and his Emperor. “He is unwell.” he heard his wife say, and he wanted to scream again. Nothing is well. All is unwell. He was more sane than he ever felt. He saw things for what they were. Unfair. 

==

Leo Voronsky was not a stupid man. He knew that his story would not have a happy ending as soon as he was summoned to court. But he got the first inkling of the madness within when he was threatened and ordered to make her happy, and then beaten for making her happy. And it was done in a nonchalant way. So he responded in kind. Brushed it all off and started again with a fake smile plastered on his face.

He was not an idiot, but he knew how to escape from the dread of it all. He stood there, his smile wiped from his face, when the Empress refused him. The gift her husband sent. She chided him for implying she did not know how to eat a peach. But that was not the point. He knew and she knew that there was nothing they could control in their life while they were at court, so why not play the love struck idiots the emperor wanted them to be.

So, in time, he knew her. And the cowardly bureaucrat and the insolend serf she was fond of. He did not know why they occupied such a big part of her life. But bit by bit, he fell deeper in love with her. He expected a woman like the ones he met at court, not the well spoken optimistic lady who was full of ideas that dared give him hope. Hope for a fair life. For a better future of their country. A future he had given up on glimpsing.

“Think of the future.” she prompted.

“I have trained myself not to, you know that.” He replied, and it was not a joke.

  
  


He knew he was free to leave at any time. The Emperor told him so himself. But he also knew that she did not want him to leave. Her actions told him so, when she kept his freedom a secret from him.

But he loved her. He fell for her and he told her, and it was all such a mess. And then she drifted away from him. He did not want to lose her like that. He opted to leave before he saw her love for him fade everyday. He had no right to that love, but he was thankful for the love he received. Basked in it occasionally, like a happy puppy. And he did not mind them seeing it. It was his purpose, after all.

And then Mariel told him everything. Why she was drifting away. Why she kept the company she kept. And he felt stupid for all the hurt he caused her with the press. He saw the pressure it put on her. And he wanted to take it all away. To take her away.

Huzzah! His love for her turned from adoration to something akin to reverence. She was giving them hope. Someday, all will be bliss in the court of catherine.

But this was real life. There will be no happy ending. No sad ending. Just a realistic one. She was on the verge of something great. Something they all wanted, but were too afraid to act upon. And when you want something, you have to sacrifice something in return. And he understood. He really did.

She came to him. With a tearful face and a conflicted heart. She wouldn’t tell him, but he understood. He was a liability to her. If she was to succeed, then he had to go. Because, as the current situation highlighted, Peter will fight back. He held Leo over her head, and she had to get rid of anything that would endanger their plan. And it was already derailed. 

He was proud of her. But he was sorry for himself. All his talk of love and perfection and happiness and bliss. It was all gone. All a lie. All placed on an altar for her to sacrifice. For a greater purpose. For the greater good. And the worst thing was it was a purpose he believed in. He did not blame her. He just wished that he had more time with her. That they met in different circumstances.

“I will haunt you.” he said in a challenge.

“Promise me.” she challenged back.

**Author's Note:**

> I binged this show over a weekend, and they all deserved better than what they got.
> 
> -
> 
> Let me know what you think.


End file.
